Asian shares were capped Thursday as uncertainty over a Spanish bailout dented sentiment, while global lenders' wrangling over Greek debt restructuring highlighted Europe's trouble uniting to tackle its debt crisis.

The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was nearly unchanged, after hitting its lowest point since Sept. 14 on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

The index has almost wiped out all the gains made after markets rallied on the U.S. Federal Reserve's new QE3 job-boosting stimulus.

Australian shares inched down 0.1 percent and South Korean shares eased 0.4 percent.

"Foreign investors' diminishing risk appetite and increased sell orders from equity funds have weighed on the index," said Lee Sun-yup, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp, of the Korea Composite Stock Price Index.

Japan's Nikkei stock average opened down 0.6 percent to hit a fresh two-week low.

As protesters against severe austerity measures took to the streets and clashed with police in Spain and Greece, European equities saw their worst day in two months, while the euro hit a two-week low against the dollar and Spanish 10-year bond yields rose back above 6 percent.

Spanish 10-year yields had held below 6 percent since the European Central Bank said on Sept. 6 it would buy sovereign bonds of euro zone states which request a bailout, aiming to trim borrowing costs.

The euro traded at $1.2878, not far from a two-week low of $1.2835 touched on Wednesday.

The yen was at 77.67 yen, staying near a one-week high of 77.585 hit on Wednesday.

The dollar index measured against a basket of currencies eased 0.1 percent to 79.793, off a two-week high of 80.012 reached on Wednesday, which weighed on dollar-denominated industrial commodities such as oil and copper, also pressuring safe-haven gold.

Japan